'I'd rather die alone': Saudi women hit back at sexist 'spinsterhood cure' hashtag

'I'd rather die alone': Saudi women hit back at sexist 'spinsterhood cure' hashtag
It's not a disease and we don't need your treatment: Saudi women fight back as a sexist hashtag calling for men to marry more women to 'cure spinsterhood' circulates online.
3 min read
09 Aug, 2017
We don't need you: Many Saudi women are opting not to get married [Getty]
A new hashtag has emerged out of Saudi Arabia calling for a solution to a “problem” that has been plaguing Saudi society… women not needing a man.

The hashtag, translating to “multiple wives cures spinsterhood” calls for men to marry more than one woman in order to stop the epidemic in the rise of young women not getting married.

There are many reasons behind women not wanting to get married, from not finding a suitable partner, to not wanting a partner, to prioritising other aspects of life like education and career.

However, according to the hashtag, being a woman and single is a condition in which women must be saved from, and men must rise up to the responsibility of doing so. Tumbleweed.

There were some men who saw no problem with this – regardless of the mannerisms used to address women:

But others disagreed because they felt their foresight may be more logical and less of a headache:

Women, however, refused to stay quiet at this dangerous dehumanisation and objectification:

Some addressed how abusive men can be in marriages and why the question of whether a man is even fit enough to be in a relationship is hardly spoken about?

But basically, autonomy in women is not a disease:


Thanks, but no thanks.